11 February 2010

I was very sad to find out yesterday that the Carnelian Room, the restaurant and bar on the 52nd floor of San Francisco's Bank of America Building, had finally closed on January 1st of this year.

I remember going there as a little kid with my parents on my very first visit to San Francisco, not long after the building opened in 1969, and falling asleep at cocktail hour because of the time difference between here and the East Coast.

Reading that the Carnelian Room's close was imminent, David and I decided to go for cocktails this past September on our anniversary, before an as-always perfect, celebratory dinner at Delfina. It was a beautiful evening and a great way to start the evening. The decor, staff, menu, and cocktails seemed unchanged since my first visit, which helped to explain the plans to close and the primarily-tourist crowd, but it was also slower-paced, retro, and with service that was comfortably clubby: you expected to see Karl Malden and Michael Douglas shooting a "Streets of San Francisco" chase scene when we peered down into the city streets.

Anyway, it was a beautiful evening and we're very glad we got to enjoy it once more before they closed the doors. And here are a couple of quick snaps from that evening.

pick my brain...

get inside my head!

'his head' examined...

this personal blog is my first, and its name refers to a whole slew of things, including: a. a play on the old retort to someone carping about something--the way people tend to do on blogs; b. the fact that one of the big barriers to me starting a blog was trying to narrow my subject matter--until i decided i could talk about it all here; c. that i have the tendency to stay in my head--and that i'm hoping this blog will be a place where i will not only share my thoughts, but speak from my heart about what i feel; and d., that maybe i'll create more if i share some of the (hopefully) more interesting strands that happen to run through my head on any given day--as they happen--instead of thinking that everything has to be a finished product.

a blog manifesto, or where is this all 'heading...'

salve! i've always struggled a little with being interested in a lot of things in life: writing, words, language, and good conversation; making art and taking photographs; building and making things by hand; design in many forms--graphic, architectural, landscape, urban planning; growing, cooking, eating, and sharing good food; equity, justice, and civil rights; and, building community and the commonweal. as time goes by i find myself understanding better that these are not divided into the serious or frivolous, the private or the public, the altruistic or hedonistic--or divided at all--that these diverse interests are all good, creative, and important; that they fit together to make 'me;' and feed each other and new journeys, affected by and affecting other people and what's happening in all of our lives. which is a long way of saying that i am blogging to share different bits of how i feel, see, create, or think about a lot of different things; that i'm hoping you may find it interesting, enjoyable, or useful; and, that it might spur some dialogue amongst all of us and help create the world we want in new ways. thanks for "getting inside my head..."

i'm a fourth-generation ex-new yorker who found home when i moved to san francisco in 2001. moving to northern california, going back to graduate school, and changing careers were three of the best decisions i've ever made.

i'm trained as a landscape architect and urban planner, and i've designed and overseen some great projects: inner-city parks, plazas, and campuses; neighborhood and downtown plans and streetscapes; multi-use trails and environmental restorations; urban farms and foodway plans; and transit centers, light-rail lines, and transit-centered communities, around the bay area and all over north america. right now, i'm working on a book about public space and society, and starting a not-for-profit organization that assists cities and regions in developing public-space strategic plans. i've had a lot of experience running and helping out not-for-profit organizations in new york and san francisco focused on public space, civic, philanthropic, advocacy, and queer issues.

i am also an artist: primarily a photographer and writer , but i also work and experiment in other media, and this year i have several shows of my work scheduled.

my amazing fiancé, david, is an extremely gifted chiropractor, and he and i have been together for almost six years.